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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Vegetarian Potstickers

I've made dumplings at home a few times now. My friend Jenny had asked me to show her how to make them, and as she's a vegetarian, this was the first time to try out a veggie filling! My friend Christina joined us too, for a fun day in the kitchen. Dumplings are pretty labor intensive, so it definitely helps to have some extra hands around. Especially when you have a somewhat whiny baby, with chickenpox, to console at the same time...

First, put the leek, the mushrooms and the cabbage in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Heat the peanut oil in a saucepan, and fry the veggies - add the grated carrot as well, until softened. Ideally try to drain out excess fluid at this part - we didn't and our filling was quite wet.

Place the softened veggies in bowl, and add your aromatics - ginger, soy, sesame oil, sambal oelek (or finely chopped chili), and coriander. Add the corn starch as well, and season with a little salt and pepper.

dough: (enough for about 50 small dumplings) 300 g flour180 ml boiling water

Place the flour in your food processor. Put the lid on and start the machine. Add the boiling water through the tube, with the machine running. Stop after a few seconds - the dough should look crumbly, and hold together if you pinch it.

Knead the dough carefully - it's HOT! - on your kitchen counter for about 30 seconds, or until it looks supple and elastic. Place in a ziploc bag and seal it. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes, but no longer than two hours.

Now, time to actually fill and fold some dumplings! I don't have any photos of this so go to Dagmar's post on the subject which is much more thorough than mine. But - to put it simply, this is what you do:

-roll out the dough, using a pasta machine. Not too thin - they should be fairly thick. I went to 3 or 4 on my machine.

-cut out rounds, using a large glass

-place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each round, fold, and start pinching the edges together.

Repeat. And work fast - you don't want the dough to try out. (In fact, keep whatever dough you're not rolling in the sealed ziploc bag.) It helps to be at least two people, working together.

Next, heat some oil (I like peanut) in a frying pan with a lid. Have a small glass of water nearby. When the oil is hot, add some dumplings - but don't overcrowd the pan. Fry until the bottom is golden. Then, add the water and quickly cover with the lid, and let the dumplings steam for 5-7 minutes (a few more minutes if cooking from frozen). Remove the lid, and re-crisp the dumplings.